Assessment of Undiscovered Petroleum Resources of the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin

Timothy R. Klett and Janet Pitman
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the potential for undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional oil and gas resources of the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin Province as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. The province is in the Russian Federation and is located between the Taimyr fold and thrust belt and the Siberian craton. Two assessment units (AUs) were defined for this study - the Khatanga Saddle AU and the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin AU. The estimated mean volumes of undiscovered resources for the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin Province are approximately 5.6 billion barrels of crude oil, 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 2.7 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

The Yenisey-Khatanga Basin Province consists of the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin proper and the Khatanga Saddle. The Yenisey-Khatanga Basin is a northeastern structural arm of the West Siberian Basin. Although the Mesozoic-Tertiary stratigraphic successions of the two basins have much in common, the basins are structurally separated by Mesozoic uplifts. The Taimyr-Kara High bounds the northern margin of the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin and the Siberian craton is the southern boundary. The Yenisey-Khatanga Basin is a Mesozoic sag that formed above a Late Permian to Early Triassic extensional rift basin and is filled with 7 to 12 kilometers of Mesozoic clastic rocks. The Khatanga Saddle is a positive feature in the eastern part of the basin. There, the Mesozoic section is thinnest, not more than 1 to 2 kilometers thick. Salt domes are present and the salt is presumed to be Devonian in age. Two kilometers or more of Devonian through Carboniferous rocks are present in the northeastern part of the saddle.

Numerous discoveries, mostly natural gas, exist in the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin Province. Known source rocks are primarily Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous mudstones. Inferred petroleum sources include organic-rich mudstone in Devonian, Permian, and Triassic intervals. Upper Paleozoic strata entered the oil-generation window during the Early Mesozoic. Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous source rocks entered the oil-generation window before the Cenozoic. Known reservoir rocks are Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, and Lower Cretaceous sandstones. Traps are primarily anticlines and thrust fault-related structures, inverted normal fault blocks associated with rift grabens, and updip stratigraphic pinchouts.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90096©2009 AAPG 3-P Arctic Conference and Exhibition, Moscow, Russia